How can you tell?

[secsee1]

I have been given a hardback book, the latest Jeffrey Archer offering, ''Thereby hangs a tale'' which the person who gave it too me Say's is a first printing, so my questions are..

How can you tell as I have looked though the first few pages and can see nothing about it being a first printing...

also assuming it is a first printing what is the relevance of this?

[karenmac60]

http://www.ehow.com/h...st-edition-books.html

First editions of some books, in good condition, can be worth quite a bit of money in years to come. First edition Harry Potters for instance are worth quite a lot -
http://www.abebooks.c...ollecting-guide.shtml
It depends on the book and how big the print run was though.

[secsee1]

Thank you karenmac60 for your great answer and links.